Letter to the Editor, New York Sun, November 2, 2005

Dear Editor,

The paper Alec Magnet reports on in his article "Study: As Lawyers' profits soar, health care suffers" is not saying anything new, it is a rehash of the insurance industry's party line - prices are up because of greedy trial lawyers daring to sue for malpractice. Wrong.  Insurance companies are gouging working Americans because... they can. In fact, while health insurance premiums have skyrocketed, so have the profits of the insurance industry, in record amounts. The insurance industry calls for tort "reform," but the only thing that really needs reform is an industry intent upon limiting people's access to the courts when they've been wronged, instead of admitting that there is no link between victims suing for negligence or malpractice and the high cost of insurance. The Manhattan Institute, once the embodiment of pragmatism, is intentionally turning its head at the only proven solution to keeping health care costs down: regulating the insurance industry.

Executive Director of the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy